Friday, 30 April 2010

Helliver guitars made in Germany

I completely agree with GL's statement in his recent post about Z.S. Thomas custom guitars, about this lack of exciting contemporary guitars that make us value so much the old models from the 60s.

But it is not enough to indulge ourselves in nostalgia about guitars built before we were born, when there are some people who keep trying, keep creating, keep believing in this marvelous instrument and the music relaying on it.

Such are the people at the Münster based small guitar company Helliver guitars - who build the guitars you can see on the right (my personal interest made me select these two chambered metal front models but they have more regular ones). Most of their guitars are based on standard designs but their aesthetic experimentations are highly enjoyable.

I particularly like the metal front cut out of an enameled road sign of the blue guitar, and the almost steampunk sound holes and corroded finish of the other one - these are smart alternatives to the current faux-vintage trend. They actually play a lot with opposition between contradictory element like recycled material and chicken head knobs mixed with high-end gear like the wide wraparound bridges and wide chrome P90s.